Underwire brassieres are known and comprise below each cup, a channel or pocket receiving a so-called underwire which provides support and controls the shape of the cup and the brassiere.
A wide variety of underwires, both of metal and of plastic (synthetic resin) have been proposed and used and, in some cases, the underrwires have been coupled together into a brassiere frame by the continuity of the wire or by an additional member interconnecting the two wires.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,740, for example, the brassiere frame has its arcuate wire members interconnected by a plastic hinge member which is of rectangular configuration. A more complex hinge arrangement, in which the underwires can swivel in eyes of the rectangular hinge member, is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,556.
Underwires, underwire brassieres and systems in which the wires may be protected against penetration through the fabric are described in any number of patents including:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,565 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,650 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,316 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,114,374 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,202 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,494 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,891 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,470 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,018 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,557 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,150 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,192 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,113 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,449 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,220 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,062 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,231 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,513 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,154 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,614 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,643 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,706 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,007 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,109,431
The problems which have been recognized in the past in connection with such underwires include penetration of the brassiere fabric by an end of an underwire in use or upon laundering, lack of flexibility of the brassiere for purposes of wearing or storage, inadequate shaping of the brassiere, insufficient support, excessive bulkiness of the underwire system or the prior art hinge structures, and problems with respect to the insertion or stitching of the underwire frame or the underwires in place in the brassiere.
It has been found that the earlier systems have not been fully satisfactory in all of the foregoing respects and, for example, prior hinge structures were incapable of permitting the flexibility of the brassiere frame which was desired or required and otherwise did not satisfy the needs where the underwires are to be coupled together. It is true that an earlier support systems has utilized a fully unitary wire having a pair of underwire portions interconnected by an arcuate portion of the same wire and fabricated from a circular cross section metal wire. That system also has proved to be unsatisfactory largely because of the stiffness of the frame.
In the case in which a separate underwire is provided for each cup, i.e. the underwires are not interconnected, the problem of poke-through has been especially significant where the underwire is of the metal type. Metal underwires, whether or not coated with plastic, have been prone to damage washing machines, especially those of the tumbler type, so that the use of metal wires in brassieres has been avoided in some cases, in spite of the fact that in many situations, a metal wire is necessary or desirable in providing the support and shape.